The High Roll: it itched, ached and burned like anything, but it was style
"The outcry against it proved equally swift and sharp. In 1767 the author of a letter to the editor of the New York Journal bemoaned the fashion that led women to double the size of their heads with the use of pomatum, artificial pads, and hair procured from corpses. But most distressing of all, the writer claimed, the 'frizzled' style resembled the shock head of a Negro.' The insult was twofold, for the so-described 'shock head'Ńthe combing and bunching of hair high over the foreheadŃwas a style worn by African American men, free and enslaved. Not only did the writer deploy a racial category to mock women's appearance, he also questioned the femininity of those who chose to sport the new fashion."
—Common-Place. Big hair is part of American history, and we can blame Europe for it, not Texas. "The high roll took on a starring role in street theater against the backdrop of a city rife with social and political tension."'
